Intellectual Property Litigation
CASTAYBERT PLLC has broad experience prosecuting claims and defending clients in intellectual property litigation including: copyright; trademark; licensing; the assignment of marks, patents, and copyright; the theft or misappropriation of trade secrets, and a variety of unfair competition, and deceptive trade practices.
Trademark, Copyright and Licensing
The lawyers at CASTAYBERT PLLC have prosecuted and defended against infringement claims under the Lanham Act and under common law claims of unfair competition and dilution, as well as independent claims brought under consumer protection statutes prohibiting deceptive trade practices and false advertising. In the copyright area, the firm’s litigators have advised clients on important questions of ownership and authorship, work for hire, exclusivity, duration, assignment, injunctive relief and damages as well as defenses based on the statute of limitations, abandonment, estoppel, laches, and fair use. The firm’s lawyers have significant experience advising clients about licensing, distribution and royalty contracts, assignment of ownership, and in litigating the scope and meaning of different clauses in such licenses for clients in a variety of industries, including the pharmaceutical, fashion, toy, and computer industries.
Trade Secret Protection
The lawyers at CASTAYBERT PLLC prosecute and defend against claims of breach of confidentiality and trade secret misappropriation in state and federal courts, both in the context of employee and competitor misappropriation. In that connection, the firm’s attorneys also have considerable experience invoking the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The litigators at CASTAYBERT PLLC have succeeded in obtaining the injunctive relief, court ordered inspections, and seizure and return of misappropriated business and scientific information, and they have successfully negotiated agreements to limit the scope of the activities of former employees at their new employers. Many cases involving trade secrets and licensing and distribution agreements have also raised patent related issues, including the scope of patents, prior public knowledge and prior invention, patent infringement, inequitable conduct and patent misuse, laches and estoppel, lost profits damages, and damages based on reasonable royalties.
Experience With IP Related Experts
The litigators at CASTAYBERT PLLC have considerable experience working with a variety of experts. These include scientific experts, such as chemists, engineers, physicists, and architects. They also include industry, marketing and other business experts on industry custom and practice, licensing practices, marketing and consumer surveys. CASTAYBERT PLLC works closely with accounting and financial experts to calculate lost profits, royalties, and other damages. In the investigation and discovery phase of litigation, the firm’s litigators are experienced working with experts in e-mail and metadata collection and recovery experts, and, where appropriate, private investigators.
